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The report of the State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023 provides details regarding temperature, precipitation, tropical cyclones, extreme events and their socioeconomic impacts. The transition form La Nina to El Nino conditions in the course of 2023 influenced weather and climate patterns in the region. However although the 2023/2024 El Nino event in ending, climate change continues to accelerate.

Building the capacity of the Pacific island States to respond to extreme, weather, water and ocean events.

If you are interested in how weather and climate works and how it impacts our communities, or if you like to analyse findings to provide advice and guidance to people, or if you have a natural affinity for science, then career in meteorology may be for you

This paper seeks to find a relationship between the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability and crop production. Precipitation and mean temperature were examined first to establish an ENSO relationship while primary sector macroeconomic and crops data were analyzed to note any significant variations in output linked to ENSO impacts of significant occurrence. Institutional strengthening and improved access to markets, both local and regional, and sector development programmes however have made this assessment difficult. Subsistence agriculture (and fisheries), said to the backbone and economic mainstay of Samoa’s primary sector, ideally the best source of ENSO impacts unfortunately remains the data poor sector.

The Eighth Meeting of the Regional Meteorological Services Directors (RMSD), hosted by Fiji and organized by SPREP and WMO, opened with welcoming remarks from Minister Konisi Yabaki, SPREP Director Tamari’i Tutangata, and WMO Representative Henry Taiki. The meeting emphasized strengthening the linkages between climate variability and change, highlighting opportunities to enhance the capacity of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) through regional collaboration and initiatives such as the Pacific Meteorological Services Needs Analysis Project and the Pacific Global Climate Observing System Action Plan. The session underscored the importance of regional partnerships and the role of meteorological services in addressing climate challenges.